*Six minutes after the reapings*
President Frost's POV
Now that all the official business was finally over, I could now focus all my attention solely on the games ahead of me. There was almost nothing for me to do besides personally see all the tributes from my mansion balcony during the chariot tour and to crown the victor or victories when the time came. But that was for later. Other then that, there was nothing for me to do except watch the tributes and hope that the game makers, escorts, stylists, prep teams and mentors did their jobs properly. I sat down in my large, coffortable, black leather chair just as my avox switched on the T.V and switched the channel to the recaps of the district reapings. I didn't even need to tell her to do it, it was like she could read my mind, which was super helpful for me. It was hard to find someone reliable, like her. Most of the other avoxs would wait until they were told to do something, but my personal avox, Castel, could think for herself. After she changed the channel she walked over to my side and stood to my right to watch the reaping with me. I wondered if there was any interesting tributes this year, the careers were always interesting, but would they be ordinary careers, or maybe something else? I didn't want this to be an ordinary game, I wanted something different. Not the predictible kinds of tributes that are the same year after year.
On the T.V screen, the Capital seal appeared before the words "District 1" appeared in white text in the middle of a solid black background, before showing the crowd of boys in girls in the District One square along with their recently promoted escort Drylana Siphison standing in the middle of the huge, shiny, wooden stage.
"Hello District One!" she shouted with joy, and was rewarded with a loud cheer from the crowds. Drylana looked happy to be in District One, but could she handle having such a responsibility? It was a lot different from being in a non-career district, and being the escort of District One was considered a real honor among escorts. "Let's not waste time now, let's get what we need out of the way before we pick this years tributes!" She shouted happily before the mayor walked up and pulled out a piece of paper. It was the history of Panem, the dark days, the peace treaty and all that other stuff. The good thing about watching the recaps is that, unlike watching it live, I didn't have to hear all that, it skipped right to the tribute picking. The screen faded from the mayor starting to read the paper and shot straight to the ending of the speech. Thank god I didn't have to hear the same thing twelve times over. It'd drive me insane.
Drylana then walked over to the girl's reaping bowl and slipped her surgically enhanced hand into the glass bowl to pick out a name. When she pulled the piece of paper out of the bowl, I couldn't wait to see what would happen. "The female tribute is..." Drylana said as she opened the paper and read the name "Re-"
"I volunteer!" A shout cried out from the crowd before a young girl ran out from the eighteen year old section. I watched as a small blond haired girl wearing a knee length shiny pink and orange-ish strapless dress that looked like it was made out of satin. She didn't look that tall for an eighteen year old, but height didn't mean that she wasn't strong. But then again, she might not be that strong pysically. But who knows, she's a career. I watched as she somehow ran gracefully onto the stage in high heels.
"And what's your name you lovely girl?" Drylana asked holding the microphone towards the blond girl.
"Lynsa Fylar!" The girl yelled out full of confidence in both her voice and her big golden eyes. "And I'll be the next victor!" Full of confidence, just like any career. She was a good looker, she'd get a whole bunch of male sponsors for that one reason only. She'd most likely get more after they see her in action.
"Well Lynsa," Drylana said happily "I think that you have a good chance of winning." Lynsa nodded her head once before taking her place on stage. As Drylana walked to the boys reaping bowl, I saw Lynsa start talking to Aphrodite, the female mentor, winner of the one hundred and thirty-sixth hunger games. Did they know each other? "The male tribute is..." Ugh, I was caught up in thought that I missed her picking the boy tribute's name from the bowl. All well, nothing too bad. "Gav-"
"I volunteer!" A few voices shouted at once. I then saw four boys run out of the crowd and run to the stage. Two large boys ran from the eighteen year old section, one ran from the seventeen year old section, and one ran from the sixteen year old section. Ohhhh, this was going to be good. Moments like this is why I like watching the career reapings. In the career district, if there are multiple volunteers, it's whoever gets on the stage first gets to be the tribute for that year's games. I saw the second eighteen year old tackle the lead eighteen year old sending them both to the ground with a thud. Right behind them, the seventeen year old leaped over the two of them followed by the mid heighten sixteen year old, who I suppose didn't see the fallen eighteen year olds, because he tripped over them before crashing to the ground himself. The seventeen year old that made it up the stage was wearing a stunning suit that was completely encrusted with jewels from top to bottom as well as a small rope necklace. Some how, I recognized that suit, maybe someone in his family wore it before him. I didn't recognize the necklace though. The boy turned around and faced the downed boys before shouting
"In your faces bitches!" Before laughing. The camera got a close up on the angered faces of the other tributes before they pulled themselves up and patted off their suits before returning to their places in the crowd.
"And what's your name young man?" Drylana asked walking up to the jewel incrusted seventeen year old. I couldn't help but notice that his short black hair was styled up to be messy. Why didn't he just keep it the way it was if he wanted it to be that way? Styled messy hair verses bed head. What was the difference?
"Griffin Holloway." The seventeen year old answered before taking his place on stage. Not much for words sometimes I thought. And if he talks like that to everyone, he mustn't have many friends. Somehow, I thought that was the case. Drylana then told them to shake hands, and they did, before the video darkened and skipped over to the District Two reapings.
As the screen began to clear, I saw Galaxis Gemini smiling towards the cheering crowd before saying how much of a pleasure it is to be the escort of District Two. Yeah, because Districts One, Two, and Four were normally the only ones that those escorts really cared to be in. The video then skipped over to her fishing her hand around in the girl's reaping bowl before she pulled out a piece of paper containing a name. I held my breath waiting for the chaos to erupt. District Two was my favorite district to watch the reapings in, because there was almost always a fight just waiting to happen there. And some of the most violent fights happened there too. All fun and games until the reapings end.
"The female's name is-" She started, but didn't even get to start reading the name, because almost immediately, a whole crowd of girls started trying to rush up onto the stage while shouting
"I volunteer!" I laughed as I saw a sea of eighteen year olds, seventeen year olds, sixteen year olds, and even some fifteen year old girls flood the area before they started fighting each other to reach the stage and be this year's tribute. Fists were being thrown, kicks were being thrusted, hair was being pulled, it was a riot. I smile crept onto my face as I saw a large eighteen year old expertly pick up a girl that looked about fourteen and fling her into the sixteen year old crowd of non-volunteers. Then something caught my eye. I looked closer and saw a small raven haired figure in a coral pink dress just shy of her knees, jump from one girl's shoulders to the next. I guessed she was twelve, she looked younger, but the minimum age was twelve to be in the reaping crowd. I watched with excitement as she hopped from one of the older girls shoulders to another shoulder in front of her, and sometimes she even landed on their heads before jumping again. Then when she jumped off the last girl's head, she landed on the stage and did an expert shoulder roll. In which she then collided with the table holding the girl's glass reaping bowl off the ground. Her body hit the table, and it in turn knocked over the female reaping bowl. Suddenly, there was the sound of glass shattering on the stage and almost instantly, all became quiet as everyone was looking at the little girl on stage in shock. Even Galaxis seemed to be in shock. Their words stuck in their throats. I looked at the female volunteer and wondered why a twelve year old would volunteer. She'd stand a better chance with a few more years of training. After a few seconds of silence, Galaxis recovered from her shock and professionally shouted
"Well well well! Now who's this lucky lady!"
"How'd you get up there!" A girl angerly shouted from the sea of beaten up would be volunteers.
"You're only twelve!" Another girl shouted
"Get down here so a real tribute can go up!" Another shouted. It sounded as if everyone was ignoring Galaxis because of the little girl on stage. Not that I wouldn't be mad if someone like that toke my chance to volunteer.
"I am a real tribute!" The little raven haired girl shouted with one of the most fiercest determination in both her voice and almond shaped emerald green eyes I had seen and heard. "My name is Howl Draconix! And you want to fight me for the tittle of tribute!" Draconix, I thought. That name sounded very familiar.
"Fuck yeah!" The huge eighteen year old that had tossed the fourteen year old shouted as she walked up stage with bloody fists. Fresh blood still dripping from her fists as her eyes cried out for more. "I'll show you what a real tribute is!"
"Bring it on you whore!" Howl shouted "I can kick your ass ten times over any day!" Even though I loved her attitude, that really angered the eighteen year old girl as fury erupted in her dark green eyes. I saw anger take over the eighteen year olds body before she ran towards the little girl. There seemed to be no competition between the two, the eighteen year old was much bigger in both height and broad. Just as she was inches away from Howl, a fist brutally smashed into her face sending blood flying from her nose, before a strong kick hit her square in the chest and the eighteen year old did painful looking, painful sounding, backward summersaults down the stage stairs.
"Stupid." The female mentor quietly said before returning back to her seat. Howl turned towards the mentor and shouted
"Didn't need your help sis!"
"Alrighty then!" Galaxis shouted trying to get the situation back under control. "Lets get this show back on track! Con graduations Howl Draconix!" As the crowd of girls went back to their spaces, I looked at the stats for Howl. It said her real name was Helena, she was only four foot nine, she only weighed seventy six pounds, and she was sister to the mentor, Elektra Draconix. That's right, the Draconix family, almost all of the family was either victors or trainers. But with her height and weight, did she really stand a chance against the other tributes? She was just so tiny. "The male tribute is-" Galaxis started, but she didn't even get to finish when a flood of boys started running towards the stage shouting
"I volunteer!" Then just as quickly as they started running, the boys started fighting each other. But their fighting was much more brutal then the girls. I watched as the boys not only punch and kick their competition, but also stomp on their faces, shove fingers into eyes, and head butting each other. It looked like a miniature war was going on there. It was so fun to watch. There was also a huge amount of cursing involved as they swore at each other almost constantly. I watched as a strong looking boy started crawling towards the stage on his hands and knees. He almost make it to the stage he just needed to get up two more steps, but then a couple of other boys from the crowd grabbed his leg and pulled him back into the crowd. About ten seconds later, a shoulder length, dirty blond haired boy wearing a black and now blood splattered tux wormed his way out of the crowd and run up to the top of the stage before shouting.
"I made it!" He shouted before all of District Two. "I am the greatest!"
"You suck!" A boy in the non-fighting crowd shouted before laughing
"No you suck!" The boy tribute shouted before laughing with the other boy. "Because I'm up here!" He looked around eighteen. He was only five foot eight, but him standing beside Howl made him look taller and stronger then he already was.
"And what's your name you lucky man?" Galaxis asked
"Lucifer Despar!" The male shouted happily through bleeding gums. He looked liked he had just made his greatest dream come true. And in a way, it was true, it was extremely hard to get a spot in the games in District Two.
"Well," Galaxis said being professional around the wounded boy "may the odds ever be in your favor," she then looked at Howl in a kind of sympathetic kind of way. "Both of yours." It then showed Howl and Lucifer shaking hands before the video skipped over to District Three.
In District Three there was an escort that I didn't recognize. But how could I forget someone with half green half red hair? Oh right, the Capital always had their crazy fashion going on. I turned towards my avox and asked her
"Who is that?" My avox walked over to my desk and grabbed a piece of paper and a red felt marker and wrote: Starbright I don't know last name.
"Thanks." I told her before she walked back to my side. Starbright looked miserable, and angry. Maybe because she was between two career districts and somehow ended up in the middle.
"Lets get this over with." Starbright practically snarled at the mayor at the moment before he started reading out the treaty. The video then skipped to Starbright comically stomping towards the female reaping bowl practically shaking the entire stage before grabbing the first piece of paper she could grab. I laughed at Starbright, she wouldn't be going to a better district anytime soon with that attitude. "Nessa Johnston!" Starbright shouted angrily. All heads turned towards the twelve year old section as a small, slender girl with elbow length dark red hair with caramel coloured skin emerged from the crowd. The crowd then began muttering things such as
"That poor girl."
"She's only twelve."
"That's so sad." Wonder what their reaction will be when they find out a twelve year old from two volunteered and fought an army of girls to be in the games? This twelve year old was very different from Howl. Nessa was scared, so scared I could see her shaking in her shoes as she slowly walked towards the stage. Or maybe she was upset. I saw her try to smile and probably tell herself that everything was going to be all right. But it soon turned into a frown when Starbright harshly shouted
"Move your ass! Come on! Get up here already! I don't have all day!" I'll be sure to demote Starbright for next year. That should teach her a lesson, hopefully. The little girl then scurried up to the stage and toke her place. "About time!" Starbright shouted before rushing over to the boys bowl. She didn't even ask for volunteers before shouting out the next name. "Zap Philistone!"
"That's not my name!" A loud, angry shout came from the crowd. The cameras then focused on something that I never thought I'd see in a district like three. There was a very tall, very muscular boy who looked nearly six and a half feet tall with dark brown hair extending past his shoulders in tatters. He was in a powerful looking white straightjacket, a thick dark blind fold over his eyes, and a muzzle over his mouth. What's more, he was surrounded by five peacekeepers who restrained his raged movements as they escorted him up to the stage. "That's not my name you goddamn fucking whore! My name is Tharizdun! And I want your head! I want your head! I want your head! I want your head! I want your head!" It was at that moment that the whole district seem to be cheering in delight. They were all probably over joyed to see this, Tharizdun, reaped. Everyone cheered, all except Starbright and Nessa, who looked even more scared to have this giant on stage with her. To have him so close to her. I turned to my avox and told her.
"I think we found our new monster." She replied with a nod before turning her gaze back to the screen. A tall, strong monster that was so strong and so feared that he had to wear a straight jacket, blind fold, face muzzle, and be escorted by five peacekeepers. That was truly something. I turned back to see the five peacekeepers escorting the monster beating on him with their blunt weapons as he was walking over to Nessa, getting closer then he should be. But even though the peacekeepers were hitting Tharizdun with hard objects, Tharizdun didn't even seem to notice that he was being hit. I then watched as several more peacekeepers ran from their posts and ran towards Tharizdun as well as a male and female in their mid to late twenties along with them. The screen then shot over to District Four as the peacekeepers and the two civilians piled onto Tharizdun and brought him down from the sheer weight of what appeared to be at least ten bodies.
I wondered what had gone on in District Three, but I decided to find out later. For now, I'd focus on District Four. District Four. To be a career or not to be a career. That's the mystery in District Four. It can sometimes be a career district, and sometimes it won't. One year you could have two volunteers, the next you'd have none. Wonder what it will be this year verses the two volunteers from last year.
On stage I saw Rainbow Light already picking out of the female reaping bowl. Must have zoned out for the first half when I was thinking if there would be any volunteers this year. I hoped that there were vollunteers this year, they ussally put on a better show.
"This year's girl is..." She then opened the piece of paper before reading out "Evaline Ellery!" Then out of the sixteen year old section walked out thin girl with long, curly red hair. She was dressed up like a mermaid. She had green fin looking pants and a purple shirt that didn't quite cover her stomach. She also had a couple of greyish white sea shells holding her red hair up on both sides of her head. It was then that I noticed the thin, long scar running across her head above her right eyebrow. The girl was smiling and was practically skipping to the stage. Looks like she was excited to go to the games, and to have nobody volunteer for her. When she got on the stage she looked onto the crowd and she was meet with silence. I then saw her emotions change. I saw her smile slowly fad and saw the fear run into her green eyes. "Anyone want to volunteer?" Rainbow asked looking towards the crowd, only to hear silence in the air. The girl then hung down her head and looked depressed. Guess she thought that someone would volunteer for her. Sorry sweetie, in District Four, there's always a chance that someone would volunteer, guess this wasn't your year.
Rainbow then walked to the boys reaping bowl and quickly pulled out a name and announced "This year's boy is..." She looked at the paper and read out "Jackson Tied." Then out of the fifteen year old section, a black haired boy wearing dark blue over rails and a blank expression started walking up to the stage as quickly as possible. If it weren't for the fear in his movement you'd think that he was eager to be in the games. But the truth was, it just seemed that he wanted this to be over as soon as possible. He wasn't denying that he was dead. When Jackson was on stage Rainbow asked if there was any volunteers. After a couple seconds of silence, a voice came from the crowd saying
"Yeah, sure, why not." The cameras then focused on another fifteen year old coming out of the crowd, but this one was smaller then the last one, and he had messy light brown hair with just the slightest signs of a tan on his skin. The two boys then crossed each other going in different directions. One going off the stage to safety, the other going on the stage and into danger. Two different paths, two different directions. When the boy got onto the stage Rainbow asked
"What's your name young man?" The boy then faced Rainbow and showed his ice blue eyes to the camera.
"Shoney Germoal." He answered before turning to Evaline and saying unemotionally "What are you so scared of? Its only the Hunger Games." Was he trying to lighten the mood for her? It didn't seem to work with Evaline. She looked just as depressed as before. Rainbow then told the two of them to shake hands, which they did, before the video jumped over to District Five.
As soon as I saw the escort of that district, I just lost all self control and laughed. She had the tallest, golden mo-hawk I had ever seen. It looked ridiculous on her. But then again, lots of things looked ridiculous in most of the Capital fashion log. It could only be Gold Sands. I kind of feel sorry for her, she's been the escort for District Five for nearly twenty years since she started escorting at the young age of sixteen.
"Nice hair Gold!" came a shout from the crowd. And surprisingly, it didn't sound sarcastic.
"Thanks!" Gold shouted back happily. Maybe being their escort for that long made them, like, close acquaintances. "I'm back District Five." There was clapping, and even some cheering. Huh, what was her secret to making them like her like that? That didn't normally happen outside career districts.
The video skipped to Gold placing her hand into the girls reaping bowl before she picked out a name and opened the piece of paper and read out "Valerie Snake!" Then out of the eighteen year old section came a skinny girl with large curves and brown hair. Valerie walked slowly to the stage until eventually she was on the stage. "Anyone want to volunteer for her?" Gold asked even though she probably knew that nobody would. Silence came for maybe two seconds, or maybe not even, before Valerie shouted
"Someone volunteer for me!" Scared, that's what she was. "Someone volunteer for me now!" She shouted. Again, she was meet with silence. Scared and desperate, thats what she was. "Someone fucking volunteer!" She screamed in a high pitched voice before starting to point at random girls and demanded them to take her place. When none of them did, she started throwing a massive fit, like a little kid that didn't get what they wanted. Was she really eighteen? And what did she think this was? A career district?
"Well," Gold said trying to defuse the current situation "the crowd has spoken."
"No!" Valerie shouted "I can't be chosen! It isn't possible!"
"Aw suck it up!" a boy shouted from the crowd "take it like everyone else and just shut up!"
"Take her instead!" Valerie shouted pointing to another eighteen year old girl. Suddenly, a young peacekeeper came up from behind her and whacked her across the back of the head with his baton knocking her unconscious. Valerie's body then painfully crashed face first onto the stage.
"You may be the mayor's daughter," the young peacekeeper told the knocked out Valerie "but that doesn't mean you can change the rules we all live by." Oh, so she was the mayor's daughter. I guess that's why she acted like such a brat. In the corner of the screen, I saw the mayor hiding his face in shame, or maybe sadness. Or maybe both. As the young peacekeeper sat on Valerie's back, Gold walked over to the boys reaping bowl while saying
"Thanks, she was starting to get out of control."
"Your welcome, and it was my pleasure to hit her." The peacekeeper answered with a sadisfying smile on his face. Gold picked out a piece of paper from the boys reaping bowl, opened it, and read out
"Alexander Natas!" Then walking out of the fifteen year old section came an unexpected sight. Walking towards the stage was a lean boy with shoulder length white hair covering his right eye, which was red, same as his left. Blood red eyes. Snow white hair. His hair wasn't old age white, but pure white, like snow. And I didn't think he was wearing contacts. And it was impossible to have surgically altered eyes outside the capital. As the boy walked towards the stage he was meet with stares and name calling.
"Freak!"
"Demon!"
"UN-human fuck!" The boy looked like he was ignoring them, like he couldn't hear them. He acted like they weren't even there. But all I could see in his eyes was rage and hatred. Like he wanted to murder those who insulted him. When Alexander got on the stage, Gold asked if there were any volunteers.
"Fuck no!" Someone in the crowd shouted "that thing should die!" And that basically summed up the silence everyone was showing. Gold them told the two tributes to shack hands. But it would be pretty hard for a knocked out tribute to do such a thing. The peacekeeper on Valerie grabbed her right wrist and held her hand out for Alexander to grab and shake, which he did. The screen then dove into District Six.
In the center of the stage stood a sky blue skinned escort with waist long red hair. I never did understand why the citizens of the capital did things like this to their body. I didn't even want to think of how they thought that stuff like that would look good.
"Hello again District Six!" The escort said into the microphone, only to hear silence from the entire district. Guess they didn't like her very much. "Anyway," she said trying to not look saddened by the lack of response she was getting "let's get going." I turned to my avox and asked
"What's her name?" My avox just shacked her head telling me that she also didn't know. All well, no matter, I'd most likely be meeting them later. I'll learn her name then.
"Rayne Page!" I heard on the T.V. I quickly tuned back to the T.V so that I wouldn't miss anymore. The camera then focused on a stick thin girl slowly coming out of the seventeen year old section. The way she walked down to the stage was something uncommon in the non-career districts. She might have been scared, but she was very good at covering it up from the way she walked towards the stage. If it weren't for her wide champagne coloured eyes she'd look fearless. When she got up to the stage I got a good look at her. She was really tall with a light uneven tan. And what was most noticeable was that her shoulder length hair was all the kinds of blond that you could think of. Strawberry blond, ash blond, dirty blond, light blond, dark blond, ect. Did she dye them those colours? It wasn't Capital worthy, so it was most likely homemade stuff. "Anyone want to volunteer for this young lady?" The escort asked, only to be meet in silence again. After a few seconds, Rayne said with a calm voice that had little fear in it.
"Its ok, I can do this."
"Uh, ok." The escort said surprised by Rayne's answer. This Rayne probably knew that nobody would even think of taking her place. That was the right thing to think. This Rayne was an interesting tribute. The escort then walked over to the boys reaping bowl and picked out a name before opening the paper and read out "Ricky Coler!" I then saw a really tall boy with strawberry blond hair slowly out of the fourteen year old section and walk towards the stage. Huh, there was something about him that I thought wasn't normal, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. But as soon as he got up on stage I saw why. He was deathly pale, his skin was as white as paper. And when I got a glance of his eyes, I saw creepy black eyes that looked more like black holes instead of eyes. Like they were almost all pupils and almost no irises. And by the way Rayne looked at him, she thought that he was a creep as well. When the escort asked for volunteers again, she was meet with silence. It wasn't surprising, but I bet the escort wanted to hear a few more words out of the district that she was escorting. "Shake hands then." She told the two tributes with dissadisfaction in her voice.
The two tributes then shook hands before Rayne's voice told black eyed boy
"I will kill you so I can return home." All the boy did was smile and nod his head like he was saying. Yeah right to her. But then he leaned in towards her right ear. If it weren't for the subtitles on the bottom of the screen I would never have known what he said to her.
"Try." Then the screen then played over to District Seven.
Thank god, I didn't want to see any more of that creep in six.
As the text of District Seven flashed on the screen, I thought of the previous tributes. You had the normal careers except for Howl who's only twelve years old, and Evaline who was the only one reaped in a career district. You have twelve year old Nessa and psychopathic Tharizdun in District Three. There was red eyed Alexander and whiny bitch Valerie in District Five. Then there was all types of blond Rayne and creepy eyed Ricky from six. What other tributes would there be this year?
As I watched District Seven's escort walk towards the girls reaping bowl I thought of how District Seven usually had almost career like tributes. They were usually strong because of their lumber trade and were skilled in axes, hatchets, and might also be skilled in various other simple weapons such as slingshots. District Seven tributes might have all those qualities, but unlike the careers, they sometimes weren't as willing to kill. That was usally a disapointment, expeshally in the bloodbath. I'm sure glad that last year's District Seven tributes were nothing like that, they were willing to fight to the death. I hope this year's District Seven tributes are willing to do the same.
"Our girl tribute for District Seven is," the escort called out before opening the piece of paper containing the name. "Sami Lavisa!" Nothing happened. Like literally, nothing happened. Everyone just stood there silently and didn't move. Guess everyone was too relived to move, except for the girl who got reaped, she was probably too scared to move. The escort looked around confused by the lack of movement before calling out again "Sami Lavisa!" Then someone slowly came out of the fifteen year old section. A thin, pale girl with long orange hair. Someone pale in District Seven? That's as strange as a pale person coming from District Ten or Eleven. I could see that Sami was scared to go up on stage. Her body was shaking and she was fiddling with her fingers as well as looking left and right almost every step. It was like she was looking for a way out of the current situation. Sorry girl, you won't find a way out on your own, and I doubt that someone will volunteer for you.
When Sami got to the stairs, her escort held out a reassuring hand for her. "Its ok." She said like she was talking to a scared child, which wasn't far from the truth. "Everything's fine." Sami took her hand slowly, but stayed a fair distance from the escort as she lead her to her place on the stage. "Just wait here, ok?" The escort told Sami, who just looked up at her with sad and scared green eyes that looked like they were going to cry. She probably didn't believe a word her escort said. "I'll be back." The escort told her before asking for volunteers, but silence took over again. The escort then ran over to the boys reaping bowl and threw her arm down deep into the paper. It looked like she was trying to reach the bottom of the bowl. Then when her hand came out from the reaping bowl, she held a single piece in her fingers while several other flew out of the bowl, and fluttered gently in the air before they landed on the stage floor.
The escort ignored the falling pieces of papers while opening the one in her fingers and called out "Bo Heatherfield!" Then same as last time, nothing happened. "Bo Heatherfield!" She repeated. Then the camera focused on a couple of kids in the seventeen year old section. One had short spiky black hair while the other had short blond spiky black hair. The two kids were looking at each other before the black haired kid pointed to the stage and the blond haired boy started to walk forwards. And like Sami, there was fear in his movements. When Bo eventually got to the stairs, the escort then did the same thing for Bo that she did for Sami, she held out her hand and guided him to his place on the stage. "Any volunteers?" The escort asked when Bo was in his place. And not surprisingly, she was meet with silence again. That is, until a sniffle broke the silence. The camera then turned to Sami, and there were tears running out of her eyes as she was sniffling. Then suddenly, Bo started to cry as well. At least it wasn't wailing, I couldn't stand kids who cried loudly. "Well, um," the escort said like she didn't know what to do or say. "Shake hands you two." The two tributes then turned to each other and slowly extended their hands for them to shake. When they grabbed and shook each others hands, they looked at each other with sad faces, like they were saying: Things aren't going to be ok are they? As the tears ran down their faces, the screen switched over to District Eight. Wow, District Seven was kind of depressing. I hoped that the next districts weren't all like that.
On District Eight's stage stood their young, new promoted escort, Valentina Velvet with her long, fire red wig and matching outfit.
"Hello District Eight!" Valentina shouted in the microphone. The audience responded by giving pitiful clapping and the additional unenthusiastic whoops. Even though it wasn't really anything to be happy about, Valentina seemed to accept the pitiful welcome. Valentina then asked the mayor to come up and read the treaty before the choosing of the tributes. At that moment, the screen skipped over to Valentina running over to the girl's reaping bowl before reaching into it and picking out a random name. "This year's girl tribute is..." Valentina announced as she unfolded the paper in her hand. "December Varen!" Almost immediately, a thin girl with dark chocolate curls that sprang off her mid-back and tanned skin, ran towards the stage while wearing a simple green blouse and white skirt. Huh, wonder why she was doing that? To get it over with or something? Valentina was certainly surprised by December's reaction as well. "Oh, excited are we?" She smiled. But everyone in the crowd knew that that wasn't the case, not even close. "Don't worry," Valentina told December "you'll get to the games soon enough." That to me was the worst thing anyone could say to a non-career tribute.
"Why did I get picked?" December asked with confused innocence in her oval shaped dark chestnut eyes that made her seem younger then fifteen.
"Luck of the draw December." Valentina told her before walking over to the boys bowl while December started to shake.
"Ember." Valentina stopped walking halfway to the boys bowl before she turned around and asked
"What's that dear?"
"I'm Ember." December, Ember told her.
"Ok, Ember." Valentina said before she turned back to the boys reaping bowl and walked towards it. When she reached the reaping bowl she dove her hand into the bowl and picked out a name at random. She unfolded the paper and read out "Dav Anders!" Then out of the eighteen year old section came a boy with black spiky black hair and a body that looked fatter then normal tributes. He must be from a rich family, most normal non-careers didn't have a lot of weight to spare, I thought as he walked up the stage to take his place on it. Nobody but careers looked happy to be up on stage, but this boy looked like he was going to explode in anger. I was sure that he sure didn't expect to be reaped. And being from a rich family, if he was from a rich family, didn't think that he could get reaped. Well, just like that girl Valerie from five found out. Nobody was safe from being reaped, no matter how rich or who your family was. "Ok you two," Valentina happily said to the two of them "shake hands now." While Ember stuck out her hand in good nature, Dav didn't even look at her. He looked away and didn't even acknowledge that she was there.
"Why won't you shake my hand?" Ember asked him kind of sensitively. I guess I'd feel the same way if someone was ignoring me like I didn't exist. Valentina must have tried and failed to get them to shake hands, because the screen skipped over to District Nine. Man, Dav Anders is a major asshole.
On stage in District Nine was their escort Sandy Villas.
"Well," Sandy said to the crowd "I'm sure you're all very busy, so I'll try not to waste much of your time." Then up came the mayor who started to read out the treaty before the video skipped over to Sandy pulling a name out of the reaping bowl. She opened the piece of paper and called out "Talliana Messine!" The camera then turned over to the seventeen year old section where a thin, dark brown haired girl with medium skin tone, wearing a rust coloured knee length dress, walked out from the seventeen year old girl crowd and walked towards the stage. With her movements, a lot of people would have thought that she didn't really care about being picked, but I've seen hundreds of kids try to cover up their feelings, and anyone that really watches the reapings and examines the tributes would also know, that she was actually scared. When she got on top of the stage, she just looked at her escort and told her
"Just pick the next victim and lets go." Guess it's what she does to over come fear. Or maybe that's just her normal attitude.
"Don't you want to know if-" Sandy started before Talliana shouted
"Nobody's going to volunteer for me! Just pick the next name!" Sandy just nodded to her calmly and walked over to the boys bowl and scooped out a name before opening the paper and calling out
"Sam Restore!" I then saw all the heads in the crowd turn towards the back of the reaping crowd, I followed the heads and saw that it wasn't really the back of the crowd, but just about. Out of the thirteen year old crowd came a small boy with short blond hair and a ripped, dark green button up shirt with ripped beige pants. The boy must have been well known for others to know who and where he was. The boy went out of the crowd, and slowly took his time going to stage. All heads followed him until a voice called out
"Hay! Wait! I volunteer!" Then the attention turned from Sam Restore, to a semi tanned boy with short black hair wearing the same thing as the younger boy, but his clothes weren't ripped, the top three buttons for his shirt were undone, and he sported a red bandana around his forehead. He also had two gold ring piercings on his right ear. The older boy ran out from the seventeen year old section and ran up to the younger boy. "I volunteer for you." He said as he was standing right beside him. The little boy looked up at the taller boy and smiled gratefully before running back to the thirteen year old section. As Sam ran back to his place in the thirteen year old section, all heads were turned over to the seventeen year old boy who had volunteered. As the seventeen year old walked confidently up the stage stairs, I thought of how volunteers in non-career districts were rare. This boy would probably be recognized in the Capital for that one single act. Any why would he do it anyway? Did he know the kid? Or did he want to be in the games? Or maybe something else? When the boy got up on stage, Sandy walked up to him and asked
"What's your name dear?"
"Arrowe Winter." The boy announced confidently to both Sandy and the crowd.
"Aren't you scared of the games?" Sandy asked Arrowe "most kids wouldn't want to be in them. Are you willing to risk your life?" Arrowe smiled at her like it was the funnest thing in the world
"I'm willing to risk it."
"Well," Sandy said kind of shocked by this boy's response. "Well, may the odds be in your favor." Sandy then instructed the two tributes to shake hands. As I saw Arrowe turn around, I saw that his right, bright green eye, get replaced by a black eye. Almost like the District Six boy's. The screen then faded before turning over to District Ten.
District Ten. As the district ten text flashed on the screen, I thought of the last three districts in Panem. Where you start to feel the hopelessness in the districts. In Districts Ten, Eleven, and Twelve, you start to feel the pain, misery, and hopelessness that are in the worst districts to live in. Only those who have traveled to those districts and those who live in them know what it really feels like. You could see in on screen, but you only really feel it when you're there in person. I've traveled to those districts. And it wasn't pretty.
I then saw the screen show Aera Hibiscus, the newly promoted escort of District Ten who had just left District Eleven for this district. And did she not look happy. I had heard from somewhere that she had lost her favorite wig, and that had put her in a bad mood. Seriously, the things that people flip out for. Now on stage, she wore a candy pink wig in a pony tail. She also wore yellow contact lenses for some reason. It didn't look good on her. And just like most of the tributes in the district she was escorting, she had tanned skin, except it wasn't a natural one, it was obviously fake. Was she trying to fit in? It was a lost cause, anyone could tell that her tanned skin was fake.
"Hello there District Ten." Aera talked like she wasn't trying to breathe in. I guessed that it was because of the animals. It didn't smell pleasant in District Ten.
"That's a nice wig you got new lady!" A young voice shouting from the reaping crowd. There was a little ripple of laughter after the child's comment was finished. Aera then lashed out and pointed one of her six inch nails at the crowd.
"Shut your mouth kid!" Then she looked at the mayor like she'd rather be anywhere but where she was and instructed him to read the treaty. Boy, what a grouch. The screen then skipped over to Aera hurrying over to the girls reaping bowl before spearing a piece of paper with her right index nail. The only thing I could think of at that moment, was how nasty it would be to be cut by one of those nails. Aera took the piece of paper off her nail and opened it out to read out "Life Lee!" I thought of that name, Life. It was like back in the dark days when people named their kids names such as Hope, Faith, Shine, and Joy. I saw a scrawny figure in a faded blue dress and faded out old jacket come walking out of the seventeen year old section. As she walked up, I noticed that her dress was a little too tight for her. And at the same time, I noticed that Aera was looking at the girl with her arms crossed across her chest along with the look of impatience on her face. As the ginger haired girl made her way up the stairs, Aera hurried over to the boys reaping bowl. She didn't even wait for Life to get up on stage before she speared another name with one of her long fingernails. She toke the paper off her nail, unfolded it, and read out "Max Starling!"
In one of the front corners of the thirteen year old sections, kids started to depart away from one of their own. As the small boy with long brown hair and tanned skin started to make his way to the stage, I heard him start to cry out in both sadness and fear.
"I don't wanna go." I heard him cry as he neared the stage "I don't wanna go. I don't wanna die!" Then all of a sudden, a retching sound appeared from out of nowhere. The camera then turned over to the stage, to see Life Lee doubled over, vomiting, and crying her heart out as well. I then thought of the District Seven tributes, and thought that this was a more extreme version of their reapings.
"Aw give me a break!" Aera shouted with her head flung back rather annoyed "I've now got a couple of criers to deal with!"
"Gee, I wonder why!" An older kid shouted out from someplace in the crowd. Aera then looked as if she wanted to claw somebody as she looked into the crowd. Her anger was unmistakeable as her eyes burned fire inside them.
"Shut your face kid!" As soon as she was done, Aera then turned over to Max, who had just made it up to the top step. Aera then rushed over to him faster then I saw anyone ever do. Aera then grabbed the sobbing Max Starling's wrist, and pulled him towards the weeping Life Lee before grabbing her wrist with the other hand. From the sudden pain in Life's face, it looked like Aera had cut her a bit with her nails. "There!" Aera shouted "They've shook hands! My job here is done, see you two on the train." And as Aera walked away from the stage while the crowd started shouting insults and curses at her, the screen skipped over to District Eleven. Boy, what a bitch. All that over a wig? I'll never understand my own people.
As District Eleven's text flashed on screen, I thought of those two District Ten tributes. Both tributes looked almost starved. Not surprising from where they were both from. Both had cried, just like the District Seven tributes. Just about everyone but careers feared the games, but did that mean that the criers were more afraid? Or were they just putting on a show for sympathy? That had been done in the past, and it would be done in the future as well. My question was, was this being done now? Or were they really just that afraid.
Now on T.V stood Veronica Stiffle in the middle of District Eleven's stage. District Eleven is a violent district, in District Eleven, you can literally feel the fear that ran in the district. It was so thick that you might think that you could psyically grab it in your hands, that the air was that full of it.
"Hi District Eleven." Veronica spoke into the microphone.
"Hi." The audience said very quietly and quickly. Veronica mustn't have expected much as she gave the mayor the signal to come out and read the treaty. The screen then jumped over to Veronica picking out a name out of the girls reaping bowl. Veronica drew out a name and called out
"Angel Hale!" Then all of a sudden, every head turned towards the fourteen year old section. Then every head started to follow a light skinned girl with black wavy hair wearing a yellow dress. Not many people had light skin in District Eleven. Wonder why she did. Did she go out much? This girl tried to walk bravely towards the stage, but everyone could see that she was scared, but she still put an effort into trying to not look scared. She walked up on stage and eyed the population with scared green eyes. "Well," Veronica called to the audience "would anyone want to volunteer for this young lady?" Her answer was only the birds chirping around in the surrounding fields. Veronica got the hint and walked over to the boys reaping bowl and pulled out a name. She unfolded the paper and read out "A-rin, Air-e-in." The crowd then started to laugh a little at her expense. "Air-run." Veronica's face turned red faced before looking at Angel and holding out the boy's reaping name. "Can you say this name sweetie?" Veronica asked kindly. Angel then looked at the name and read out
"A-" She then stopped and looked at her escort. "I'm sorry, I'm not good at reading."
"It's Aerin Sevani (ay-er-in sev-ar-ny)." A voice called out. The cameras then focused on a tall, dark brown skinned boy with black hair wearing a fairly clean white t-shirt and black trousers. He also had a small scar just over his left eye. This boy looked the same age as Angel, but he looked so much stronger. Probably due to working out in the fields a lot. When he got to the top of the stage, he told the two girls on stage with a smile "Its alright, its kind of a hard name to read." He was acting all cheerful now, but what I saw before was a scared kid not wanting to move from his spot until just before now. Veronica gave a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Aerin."
"No problem." Aerin then stuck out his hand for Angel to take. The two of them shook hands before the screen skipped to the last district. District Twelve.
District Twelve. The birthplace of Katniss Everdeen, the icon for the second rebellion, and by far, the worst place to live other then District Eleven, and District Thirteen which is now flooded with real radiation. Not the cover up radiation of false news, but real, deadly, killing radiation. Thirteen thought they could stop the Capital, but they forgot one thing, District Two, and we, the Capital, with the help of District Two, crushed them before obliterating them for real this time. There was no coming back for District Thirteen. Now because of the rebellion, District Twelve was a run down shanty town with scars of the firebombs that were dropped on them nearly sixty-five years ago. Now on stage, in the center of the run down district, stood the district's newest escort. Eighteen year old Crystal, now doing her first escort ever.
"Hello District Twelve." She said breaking the tension of silence. Only for her to get hit in the face with a fist size rock. Nice way for her to start her escorting career. I'd be lying if I didn't say it was kind of funny to see. Her nose exploded with blood as she fell backwards on the stage before peacekeepers started to point guns in the general direction of where the stone came from.
"Fucking animals!" Crystal shrieked out enraged as blood ran down her pale white face. District Twelve had changed dramatically ever since Katniss died. No more were the relaxed peacekeepers from before, the peacekeepers now were more like those in District Ten now.
"Pick a name and get the hell out of here!" An adult male voice shouted. A bullet rang through the air before people started shouting and ducking in fear. A peacekeeper had shot his gun in the air and smoke rose from his gun barrel.
"That's a warning!" He shouted aggressively to the crowd "Next time, someone will get shot, and I don't care if their innocent or not!" The crowd calmed down a little before Crystal stood up, walked over to the girls reaping bowl, and picked a name with her non-bloody hand.
"Evanlyn Scott!" Crystal said holding her nose with her bloody hand making her voice go up a pitch. Then a thin, expressionless, blond haired girl with pale skin walked out of the fourteen year old section and made her way to the stage wearing a plain blue dress with some white trim. I saw her look alert as she passed a peacekeeper before eyeing the mayor up. Was she scared of authority figures? When she got up on stage and turned to face the crowd, I saw her worried blue eyes stare straight at one place, not moving for anything. What was over there I thought, what was she looking at? "Anyone want to volunteer for her!" Crystal shouted to the crowd. But not surprisingly, nobody spoke up. "Yeah," Crystal laughed and smiled wickedly at the audience. "Thats what I thought." She then ran over to the boys reaping bowl and pulled out the first name she encountered. "Colin Aldrin!" Then out of the seventeen year old section, I saw a fat boy with short blond hair and blue eyes clumsily make his way to the stage by bumping into everyone in his way. But it soon turned into less bumping into people and more into other kids shoving him out of the crowd. When the kids managed to shove him out of the crowd, one kids shouted
"Get your fat ass on that stage!" the fat boy then walked over to the stage stairs and made his way to the top of the stage, while tripping a lot down the stairs, causing the audience to laugh their heads off. When he finally toke his place on stage, he smiled at the girl tribute, who ignored him and kept a fixed eye on the thing she was looking at. She didn't even change expressions. Crystal then told the two tributes to shake hands. Which they did. The screen then faded to black before flashing the Capital seal once again, signiling the end of the reaping re-caps. The screen then went blank as my avox turned the screen off. I thought of Districts Seven through Twelve now.
Sami and Bo, the quiet criers from seven. Dav and Ember from eight. The boy who thought he was higher up then sensitive girl. Talliana, the normal, and Arrowe the volunteer from nine. Max and Life, the two criers from ten. Little Angel and hard to read Aerin from eleven. Fat Colin and expressionless Evanlyn from twelve. Would these twenty-four tributes entertain me? In their own ways they might. And out of those twenty-four, who would walk out alive and become the winner of the one hundred and thirty ninth hunger games? All those questions would be answered in time. But for now, I was just going to relax.
District 1:
M: Griffin Holloway - 17 -
F: Lynsa Fylar - 18 -
District 2:
M: Lucifer Despar - 18 -
F: Helena "Howl" Draconix - 12 -
District 3:
M: Zap "Tharizdun" Philistone - 18 -
F: Nessa Christine Johnston - 12 -
District 4:
M: Shoney Germoal - 15 -
F: Evaline "Eva" Ellery - 16 -
District 5:
M: Alexander natas - 15 -
F: Valerie Snake - 18 -
District 6:
M: Ricky Coler - 14 -
F: Rayne Page - 17 -
District 7:
M: Bo Heatherfield – 17 -
F: Sami Lavisa - 15 -
District 8:
M: Dav Anders – 18 -
F: December Juliet "Ember" Varen – 15 -
District 9:
M: Arrowe Winter - 18 -
F: Talliana Messine - 17 -
District 10:
M: Max Starling - 13 -
F: Life Lee – 17 -
District 11:
M: Aerin Sevani - 14 -
F: Angel Hale – 14 -
District 12:
M: Colin Aldrin – 17 -
F: Evanlyn "Eve" Scott - 14 -
A/N: Sorry if this wasn't the kind of reapings you were expecting, but I wanted to get this done, I know some people like the individual district reapings, but that would have taken a while. Anyway, tell me what you think, did I do well? Did I do your characters right? How can I improve?
I would also like to thank Crazy Reed, Charlie3Cato, hublub, incubiis, Rosemarie Benson, window16, Fiddlegirl, MyDarkTribute, Max Albina, SoaringRaven1,Aira Skies, Thgultimatefan19, Fanficsdaydreamer, Camp Half-Blood, The Moonlight Sonata, skyflower51, Courtney DiLaurentis, and Callilily for sending in these great tributes.